An Examination of the Long Term Relationship between Urban Planning and Social Control

Cuny Queens College, Flushing NY

Investigators

Abstract

Dr. Timothy Pugh and a team of scholars from the United States and Guatemala will investigate the emergence of cities among the ancient Maya between 800 and 400 BC. The majority of people worldwide currently live in cities, yet little is known about what cities do or how they initially formed. Balancing complex social interactions, transportation, and urban planning needs is critical to the success of cities in the present as well as the past. However, such balancing becomes even more complex during the emergence of social inequality and occupational specialization. Archaeology allows the study of social phenomena over long periods of time and without historical documents. Thus, this research will contribute to understanding the long-term relationships between central administration and cities: What roles did cities play in helping societies adapt to emerging social complexity? How does the development of central leadership relate to urban planning? What are the long-term dynamics of tensions between public and private spaces? How do such dynamics relate to the emergence of social inequality? The project explores the invention of what is currently the earliest known urban grid in the Americas at the lowland Maya site of Nixtun-Chich in Peten, northern Guatemala. How did such complex city planning emerge in an area without a tradition of such planning? Nixtun-Chich is also the only Maya city known to have an urban grid. Why were urban grids not as successful among the Maya as they were among the ancient Chinese, Indus Valley, and Greek civilizations? In sum, the project will examine how cities can act as a sort of administrative tool to organize increasingly large and socioeconomically diverse populations. This research will train both United States and Guatemalan students and will support student efforts to complete research practicums and theses at various levels. Project results will be published in English and Spanish in books and journals, and presented at conferences in Guatemala, the United States, and elsewhere. Information will be uploaded to an ongoing website (http://www.itzaarchaeology.com/), which summarizes project findings. In the Maya lowlands of Mesoamerica, the typical city includes low-density urban settlement. However, between 800 and 500 BC, Nixtun-Chich developed a unique urban grid formed by a series of perpendicular corridors and was densely settled. This research project will test the hypothesis that the settlement of Nixtun-Chich was rationalized through a gridded layout to organize and manage an increasingly large and complex population. The project will also investigate whether private space began to impinge upon public space by the end of the Middle Preclassic period (400/300 BC) at the city, perhaps leading to social dissipation and ultimately dispersion. These propositions will be tested through a multiyear archaeological program of extensive excavations in the urban grid. This research will make a number of broader impacts. The knowledge of the diversity, successes, and failures of ancient cities can contribute to modern discussions of urbanization and policymaking. The proposed work will add some historical depth to understanding the importance of a positive balance of social interactivity, transportation costs, and settlement patterns, which is critical for sensible policymaking. Accordingly, the work has the potential to illuminate the social functions of public goods and the potential drawbacks of privatization.